HAPPY MEMORY: George McGinnis, who was an ABA and NBA All-Star, calls the game his
best up to that point and probably since. / 2006 Star file photo

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NO STOPPING HIM: George McGinnis (1) scores against Kentucky’s Tom Payne during the 1969 Indiana-
Kentucky All-Star game at Louisville. McGinnis wound up making 20-of-32 shots from the field. / Star file photo

At Conseco Fieldhouse: Girls 3 p.m., Boys 5 p.m., today

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George McGinnis couldn't stop smiling. Every time he'd try, he would catch a glimpse of his father in the front seat of the car, laughing and shaking his head from side to side about George's amazing night on the basketball court.

"He was so proud," McGinnis, the former Washington High School star, said 40 years after the game. "It was the last happy memory I had of him."

Burnie McGinnis was just 42 when he died in the summer of 1969, just a month after the car ride from Louisville, Ky., to Indianapolis that remains etched in his son's mind.

Burnie saw the best of George that June night in Louisville, a game that went down as one of the best individual performances in the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star series. George's numbers -- 53 points and 31 rebounds in a 114-83 win for the Indianapolis Star Indiana All-Stars -- seem almost unbelievable.

A baseball player as a youth in Alabama, Burnie liked that George had taken to basketball. Not only did it build character and promote teamwork, basketball was an alternative to trouble.

"He talked about the opportunities I had," George said of his father. "He was a good guy, and good father. He wanted the best for me."

McGinnis' outburst might not have happened except for a few choice words from Kentucky All-Star Joe Voskuhl. After the first game of the series -- a 91-83 Indiana win at Hinkle Fieldhouse in which McGinnis had 23 points and 14 rebounds -- Voskuhl, a forward from Covington (Ky.) Catholic who went on to play at the University of Tulsa, laid into Indiana's Mr. Basketball.

Uh oh. Big George knew a challenge when he saw one. In retrospect, Voskuhl probably should have just remained quiet. McGinnis had averaged 32.7 points in leading Washington to a state championship as a senior.

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The day before the second game, both teams worked out at Louisville's Freedom Hall. Voskuhl walked past as McGinnis was shooting. Each time the ball swished through the net, McGinnis muttered "Joe." Uh oh.

In the game, McGinnis made Voskuhl his personal Washington General. He racked up more than 20 rebounds in the first half and finished the game 20-for-32 from the field.

"It gave me a ton of incentive," McGinnis said of Voskuhl's comments. "Back in those days, we didn't have AAU or any other outlet in the summer other than to play in the All-Star game. So once he said that, I was really fired up. It seemed like everything was going in."

Before the Kentucky East-West All-Star game later that summer, Voskuhl's coach made a request of him: Don't talk to the media.

About 10 years ago, McGinnis was stunned to receive a call at his office from Voskuhl, father of former Connecticut star and NBA veteran Jake Voskuhl.

"The first thing he says is, 'I still don't think you are as good as Oscar Robertson,' " McGinnis said with a laugh. "We had a good talk. We've probably talked three or four more times since then."

Voskuhl, who lives in Houston, is content with his place in history. He doesn't claim he was misquoted, but he said there was a second part of his comment that wasn't reported.

"I said, 'If that's the best he can do, he's overrated,' " Voskuhl recalled. "But I also said our scouting report said he was a little out of shape and once he got back (in shape), he'd show up a lot better."

It was the last game Burnie McGinnis saw his son play. A few weeks later, he was killed by a fall from scaffolding while working on a construction site.

Burnie missed out on George's career at Indiana University and in the ABA and NBA, and his son's growth as a player and a man. But that night in Louisville was special. That smile on his father's face has never left McGinnis.

"He said, 'My goodness, that was unbelievable,' " McGinnis said of the game he calls his best up to that point and probably after. "We talked about it all the way home. Then came Monday morning and he was back to work. But I knew that game made him happy."